Emotion Lecturer: Dr Tony Mowbray (tony.mowbray@monash.edu) - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Emotion Lecturer: Dr Tony Mowbray (tony.mowbray@monash.edu)

Learning Objectives  Define Emotion  Explain the characteristics of emotion  Identify the roles of social and cultural influences on emotion  Describe the various theories of emotion  Understand the interaction between emotion and communication 2

What are Emotions? - Organised psychological and physiological reactions These reactions are:  Partly inner or subjective, experiences  Partly measurable patterns of behaviour and physiological arousal - Usually temporary - Could be positive or negative 3

Biology of Emotion  Central Nervous System (CNS): several brain areas are involved in the generation and experience of emotions.  Autonomic Nervous System (ANS): gives rise to many of the physiological changes associated with emotional arousal.  Brain Mechanisms  Limbic system  Voluntary facial expressions 4

Theories of Emotion  James’ Peripheral Theory (James -Lange Theory)  Perception of peripheral responses: brain interprets a situation and automatically directs a set of peripheral changes  Facial feedback hypothesis: involuntary facial movements provide peripheral information for an emotional experience  Cannon’s Central Theory (Cannon -Bard Theory)  Emotion occurs entirely within the brain with or without feedback from peripheral responses 5

Theories of Emotion (cont.)  Schachter – Singer Theory  Interpretation of events and our peripheral responses  Arousal depends on attribution – identifying cause of an event  Lazarus’ Cognitive Appraisal Theory  emotion is a result of our evaluation of how an event affects our wellbeing 6

Lie Detection: The Polygraph  Based on James-Lange peripheral theory  Types of lie detection tests: Control question test Directed lie test Guilty knowledge test  Problems Polygraph results not 100 per cent accurate Guilty person can ‘fool’ the machine Innocent people can be mislabelled as guilty.  New tests measure Brain activity Brief facial ‘ microexpressions ’ 7

Communicating Emotion  Words  Nonverbal cues: • Body movement • Posture • Tone of voice • Facial movements and expressions Some emotions are learned depending on social situations. Some emotions can be interpreted differently in different cultures. 8

Expressing Emotions 9